November 23, 2023: This week I would like to look at surfing conditions.
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Do you know we (the surf crew at Town Beach) arrive at the beach every morning at 5am?
Firstly, we ask ourselves, 'have we got the surf vibe?'
'Do we paddle out and hope for the best or stay on the sand and observe?'
I thought I might impart what I do in the morning.
Firstly, I greet fellow surfers Cherie, Paul, Ben, Gee, Bobby, and the 'new guy', Dean.
The second question is: 'have you any ideas?' I then say 'looks can be deceiving, let's take a walk up to Flaggies and get a better idea of the conditions.'
If we are not sure (Flaggies can look small but can still be quite heavy), we take a quick stroll down past Kiosk Rock to see how the Breakwall is.
We then head back to the carpark to find out Cherie has already thrown her wetsuit on and is in the water.
Not me - the old 'dog'.
It takes time to slowly arrange my wetsuit, wax my board and then put my ear plugs in and put my hat on.
Before getting in the water I have to make sure I stretch (legs, back, then arms); five minutes maximum. Especially if the surf is pumping. And then I am ready to follow the rest of the surf crew.
We all welcome visitors and greet them. We share waves and like having a chat.
Sometimes you can learn a lot from other people just by listening; then impart your knowledge after the first wave. Like, 'there is a lot of sweep today' or 'the run-out tide is really bad today'. Little hints are always appreciated.
Conditions
Conditions this week: winds S-SE turning NE Saturday with a SE swell 1.3-1.7m.
Water temperature will be 16-18 degrees.
Tides will be higher in the morning with the water being a shade of grey.
From the crew
Just a small story this week from the "crew'.
Sitting on the deck at the famous Salty Crew one morning, having a coffee, Cherie pipes up; 'I'm heading to the (surf) museum today as they are drawing the new board raffle'.
I gave her $10 to spend wisely so she buys Benny "the German backpacker" two tickets and guess what - he won the board!
It gets better. Sunday morning the new board is on the grass and Cherie says 'someone offered Benny $1200 for it'.
Benny knocked the offer back and packed the board away. Paul said to me 'what would Barten Lynch do?' I said, 'wax the board up and give it a go'.
So, Benny grabs the board from the back of the ute, paddles out at Flaggies - and there were no waves for about 20 minutes.
He had a bit of a worried look on his face until I called him onto a wave. Then he rides it to the beach with everyone hooting all the way.
